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Monday, July 07, 2014

scrap fabric floor pouf

Recently I taught a surface design class in my studio where we spent two days making all kinds of handmade fabric and that means I had tons of scraps left over from all my teaching demos! So I decided to use all those scraps to create a big colorful floor pouf for our living room.

I started by cutting my scrap fabric into smaller(ish) squares and then I sewed all those squares together to make two large pieces of patchwork fabric- one for the top of my pouf and one for the bottom.

note: I wasn't at all concerned with perfection (cause I never am) or with things being perfectly straight or square.

This process would have gone a lot quicker without a toddler in the mix but projects are WAY more interesting with a tiny helper!

Next, using a paper pattern that I made (simply by tracing a large circle) I cut out two large circles from my patchwork fabric- one for the top and one for the bottom.

Then I sewed the two pieces together leaving an opening for stuffing.

I stuffed the pouf as full as possible with stuffing.

Then I used heavy twine to tightly wrap the pouf 4 times- this immediately transforms a pillow into a pouf!

Note: For all those sewers out there, this is basically using the concept of making a pin cushion but REALLY LARGE. And while you could use a long tapestry needle to pierce the center of the pouf and then wrap, I found it WAY easier to use my husband's brute strength to tightly wrap the twine!

I finished it off by sewing a button into the middle of both the bottom and the top.

The result is a super fun and colorful floor pouf made entirely from hand painted fabric! I can't wait to make more!

P.S. For those curious about the techniques that I used to make the fabric- I teach an online class called Beneath the Surface that covers all my favorite surface design techniques! You can read more about it HERE

Alisa, I won't ever get tired of saying YOU ARE BRILLIANT! I've had such a yen to sew lately that I need to make one of these for Forrest's big-boy room. And some of your canvas bags for his toys. And work on my Larger than Life piece and sew that into a wall hanging. And, and, and!

What a great outcome! I adore the colours and messy-ness of the fabric. I think a pouffe was the perfect thing to make with them.

I've recently been experimenting in pattern and surface design myself ( my teachers are books) but I haven't been brave enough to print anything onto fabric yet. I guess my main surface is paper but I've never really thought about what my own designs might look like three dimensionally! But I guess when you're designing for surface you have to think about application and how the final pattern might be used. :)